While there had been some communications early on, we were not willing to offer Monserrate Shirley a significant deal for her cooperation, Robinson said. The now 49-year-old originally faced life in prison without parole. It would have shortened the trial a week. At that point, Shirley and her co-defendants her boyfriend Mark Leonard and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr. had been sitting in jail for two years following their arrest on charges of murder, arson and attempted insurance fraud in connection with the explosion. Its very difficult sentencing hearing weve been through for two days. He questioned her about the multiple boardings of her cat, Snowball, which he found odd. She explained that Snowball had anxiety. [8], Prosecutors alleged that on the Friday before the explosion, Leonard and his brother Bob spoke with a neighbor who was a Citizens Energy employee, asking that person about the differences between natural gas and propane. . You were a nurse. At the end of the day, we still miss her and him, Dion, as much as ever, Buxton said. This has to be done, Shirley testified. A second home was reduced to rubble as well, and other houses were half-collapsed. "I mean, sometimes I wish I was there and I'd be dead, and now I wouldn't have to be asked so many questions.". [34][35], Monserrate Shirley pled guilty to conspiracy to commit arson. She talked about being Catholic and said it was in God's hands, but still, they should be punished.". Its an interesting concept. She transferred from her job in Michigan to the VA hospital in Indianapolis, where she worked for 17 years, focusing in the ICU. Shirley and her boyfriend Mark Leonard were out of town for the weekend while her 12-year-old daughter stayed with friends. Shirley says Monserrate got the house in the divorce. Gary Thompsonwas handed a 30-year prison sentence, 20 years executed, for his role in the murderous insurance fraud scheme. When she got home, Mark told her he and Bob had gone to the library to research other similar homes that had been set on fire without anyone getting hurt. Says Sen. Tom. He says he "was very surprised" to learn Snowball had been boarded on the night of the explosion. But the majority supported us.. This time, Mark and Bob talked alone while Monserrate left to pick up her daughter. . Below, find a transcript of John Shirley's testimony from Tuesday's hearing: 2:22 p.m. John Shirley, Monserrate Shirley's ex-husband, called as witness. ", Minch: "You said you talked to Ms. Shirley on the 11th. [18], Prosecutors initially sought to try the suspects together, but the defendants were granted the right to separate trials. I cant give back what was taken from them on November 10. [36] Shirley was sentenced to 50 years in prison, the maximum possible under her plea agreement, on December 20, 2016. Shirley and her boyfriend were hoping to collect $300,000 in insurance . But Im not allowed to say that. She told him the attempt didnt work but that there would be another attempt. Worried that jurors might easily convict Leonard of the lesser charges against him, but not the larger ones that carried the life without parole sentence prosecutors were asking for, Robinson built her closing argument from the bottom up. Prosecutors alleged Leonard was the mastermind behind the explosion that damaged or destroyed more than 80 homes in Indianapolis, plotting with his then-live-in girlfriend Monserrate Shirley. He was going to bring Thompson to their house so she could say she was okay to move forward, too. Gary Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson and received a 30-year sentence, with 10 years suspended. That becomes eight years when good time credit is applied. Shirley says they were his. Having Shirley as a witness came with its own pitfalls, though. She was upset when she got home that night and saw her nicer digital thermostat sitting on the kitchen island and the new cheaper model on the wall. "I am a nurse. After that, the fire wasn't mentioned again until the week before Halloween. On December 21, 2012, Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and his brother Bob Leonard were charged with 2 counts of felony murder and . [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. Its because the game of death is the game of life itself. She grew up in Puerto Rico with a violently abusive father who would often beat Shirley as well as her siblings and mother. Before meeting Mark, Shirley had never been to a casino. Richmond Hill explosion: 'It's the toughest thing I've ever done in my career', Richmond Hill explosion: 7 keys that solved the case, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Everything's under control.". No one, Shirley replied, crying.I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. The entire day she answered questions from attorneys, repeatedly crying. When the relationship first started, she said, "He was a nice guy. [6] A friend of the couple reported that Mark Leonard had lost $10,000 at the casino approximately three weeks before the explosion. No one deserved what happened. Later that same day, an attorney asked Shirley if the Longworths deserved what happened to them. Shirley: "In order to pay a very large amount of child support, I was working a full-time job and two part-time jobs. Shirley: "No.". They laughed at her for asking, but it was switched back out. Shirley said she recalled telling them two innocent people die out of this.THIS HAS TO BE DONE. Monserrate and John had the home in Richmond Hill built in 2003. On the day of the explosion, another neighbor saw a white van pull into the driveway of Shirley's residence between 2:00 and 3:00p.m. To begin the day, Monserrate Shirley explained how she and Mark Leonard met. She agreed that's what happened, but insisted she only said what Mark told her to say. The truth is, I was scared.. Marion County Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle sentenced Monserrate Shirley to spend the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison on Tuesday. They said they didn't know. And then there was the arrangement that when I picked up my daughter I would get to take some of my belongings. Although prosecutors didnt need their blessing to go ahead with the plea, Robinson said they felt it was important to tell the residents as much as they could. Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate, or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook and Pinterest. The Richmond Hill neighbors had been waiting long enough without a trial. They went home together that night and he moved in the first week of December. But while he was living in the home, the only problem he had with its gas appliances the furnace, water heater and fireplace was that their pilot lights would sometimes go out when a draft blew in from an open garage door. [6] She claimed to have been horrified at the Longworths' deaths, as well as the massive destruction wrought by the explosion. monserrate is a real-life cousin of Shirley, and its said that her daughter monserrate will be taking us on when we die. Get caught up on the first two chapters here:Chapter I: The Night the Sky Caught Fire|Chapter II: The $4 Million Arson Plot. Jeffrey Wager and IMPD investigators, Lt. Mario Garza and IFD investigators, agents of the Federal ATF, and our trial team for their commitment and perseverance to bring justice for the Richmond Hill residents.. They claim that Leonard wanted the hit man to force the witness to call 9-1-1 and recant his statement before killing him. [9], Investigators discovered a number of allegations of insurance fraud and other scams by Leonard prior to the blast, particularly involving stolen or wrecked automobiles. The blast killed two people and. Wednesday in court, Shirley said that at the July 4th pool party, she called lighting the house on fire crazy. Attorneys walked Shirley through a number of conversations she had with Mark Leonard from the time they met until the house exploded. We did the right thing, for the right reason, and got the right result in the right way.. [3][4] Damage to homes in the neighborhood was estimated at $4 million. Defense attorneys later pointed out she allowed him to move in and eventually drive her daughter to school despite knowing he was serving house detention for a DUI charge. HOW TO SOLVE ERROR CODE PII_EMAIL_DE03C2D55A4B639F558D. An Indianapolis woman said she asked her then-boyfriend's half-brother what he had done when she learned the fire they planned to ignite using natural gas had Monserrate Shirley was a divorced Puerto Rican mother whose exotic looks quickly attracted Mark Leonard. Robinson knew that. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. . After court adjourned for the day, Shircliff said he attacked her inconsistencies "to show that she can tell the truth as easily as she tells a lie, and it's hard for the jury to know the difference. arranged for her daughter to stay . He was sentenced to two life sentences without parole, as well as 70 years from other charges, on March 18, 2016. Glenn told me, Between Mark and Gary, theyre going to explode the whole neighborhood. I said, Dont play like that. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. "I have everybody telling me stuff that they said on the TV," she said. At 11:11 p.m. on Nov. 10, 2012, a two-story home on the south side of Indianapolis exploded with the force of as much as 5 tons of TNT. One year of his sentences wassuspended, and the rest was to be split between jail and work release. He told her one of the reasons she needed to upgrade the policy was he planned to bring in some nicer things and do some work around the house to improve it and they would need the extra coverage to match the upgrades. Again, Monserrate agreed to do her same three preparations: a casino hotel reservation, a babysitter for her daughterand boarding for Snowball. John Shirley, her ex-husband, who owns the home with her, told The Associated Press that he believed the home's faulty furnace could have led to the explosion. By December 2014, two years after the explosion in the Richmond Hill subdivision, prosecutors were preparing to go to trial without any cooperating witnesses. Dion and Jennifer Longworth, two occupants in the house at 8355 Fieldfare Way, died in the explosion; seven others were injured. Mark. No one else was within earshot, so far as she knew. I didn't do nothing wrong.". I did my best. And your daughter lost some things?" The third weekends attempt was the one that killed the Longworths. But these were good defense attorneys. She now faces 20-50 years, though a judge has the right to suspend some, or all of that time. The crowd watched in grim silence as a Marion County judge entered not guilty pleas for Monserrate Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and his brother, Bob Leonard. She died at age 85 in 2014, but Shirley Temple's childrenand fans gathered in LA on Monday, April 23 to celebrate what would have been her 90th birthday. The topic came up again around July 4. But I cant do that, and everybody knows you cant do that, but sometimes theres this perception that getting through the justice system will make things better. I was at one of my part-time jobs when I got a text from my daughter, which was very unusual. In 2017, Leonard wasconvicted and received an additional 50-year sentencein a murder-for-hire scheme authorities say he concocted from jail after his arrest. [2] Over sixty firefighters responded to the blaze. Monserrate Shirley said Mark Leonard was very, very mad., Mark Leonard said, Were going to do it again. Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/11/14/monserrate-shirley-speaks-about-indianapolis-house-explosion/, emmy rossum jay z and beyonce the big chill tony blankley charles barkley beyonce troy polamalu, http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/11/14/monserrate-shirley-speaks-about-indianapolis-house-explosion/. ", Minch: "You testified that you only used a babysitter maybe once a month, because your lifestyle with Ms. Shirley wasn't such that you went out every weekend?" monserrate is the name of the dish, as well as its chef and owner. Shirley testified in Fort Wayne at the trial of Bob Leonard, Jr. one of five people accused in the deadly 2012 Richmond Hill Explosion. (WISH) - Monserrate Shirley told jurors Wednesday she would do anything for Mark Leonard, because she was in love with him. The shirley daughter is an Italian restaurant that takes more than 15 minutes to make you feel at home. [39] Glenn Hults received a three-year sentence.[40]. Sgt. The co-conspirators include Shirleys boyfriend at the time, Mark Leonard, and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr. When she told him there was around $10,000-12,000 in it, he said that wasn't enough. The stove was electric. His sentencing is set for December 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry issued the following statement: We respect the Courts decision ordering Monserrate Shirley to serve a fifty-year prison sentence for her participation in this senseless conspiracy. If Monserrate Shirley keeps up her part of the agreement, a judge will decide her sentence after all the Richmond Hill explosiontrials have been completed. After her 12 hour shift, she planned to see her daughter at the Holts' house and change there. I had to know I could make this case based on the evidence I had.. Shirley says Monserrate's sister moved out of the neighborhood around the same time they moved in. She was too involved. She was 11 years old at that point. While she was charged in December 2012 for her role in the explosion, she pleaded guilty to two felony conspiracy charges earlier this year in exchange for her testimony. [16] On March 13, Leonard allegedly placed a call to a man who he believed to be a hit man. Again, she said, "Because I was not able to tell him 'no'."
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